Firstly, could you tell us as the owner/founder what was your driving ambition to get into International education?  Could you give us a brief background to both international schools and in particular, Rugby School Thailand as the new (British branded) school?

Education is an important platform for the growth of any nation. We want to be able to lay a strong foundation for the academic development at the International School level in Thailand. Even though a selected few can afford the fees of an international school, these fortunate ones will be the future leaders of our country. UK private school brands are associated with the top names in education. Many (Thailand included) believe that UK independent schools combine academic excellence with a well proportioned emphasis on personal development.

Why did you chose to collaborate with Rugby School in the UK? How similar will the school be to the UK school in terms of its traditions and values?

Rugby School is known as a traditional British private school with top academic standards and an emphasis on character development. Students graduated from Rugby School UK are known to have all-around personal skills, and leave ready to embrace the challenges at the world. The Rugby School Thailand will adapt this approach: maintaining the heritage and traditional values, learning the proper way to respect others, and providing leadership skill through Academic and extracurricular activities.

Could you tell us more about why you chose the Location of the school and what it offers for the student?

To duplicate the daily routine at Rugby in the UK, large spaces are needed to fulfill the whole activities program offered. Our location in Chonburi  offers such a possibility. Additionally, the plan to promote the Eastern-Seaboard as the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to stimulate the economy and encourage investments, matches with our school development plan.

In the last decade, Thailand has become known across Asia as one of the strongest locations for top-tier international schooling – Why is that?

Perhaps a weaker national educational system in Thailand forced Thai families to look for alternatives. This search for a better standard of education serves as a strong base of interest for international schools. The international school business has grown to be quite successful from an investment perspective: many families in Thailand are known to send their children abroad for a better education.

There is an outstanding range of schools with a wide variety of facilities and the finest teachers- what about this competition – how do you differentiate yourselves?

Rugby is different from other international schools in many ways. Our operation is parallel to the way UK private schools operate. Children have longer school days until 5:50pm, including sport, extracurricular activities and homework, while other international schools finish their school day at around 3pm. Class size is small with a maximum of eighteen. Children learn with specialist teachers starting from year 3 while other schools offer specialist teachers at year 5 or 6 onward. Children also enjoy first class facilities in the classroom, music, science, and art blocks with 4 swimming pools and 2 indoor sport halls. We offer water sports activities such as windsurfing, canoeing, sailing in our man-made school lake, 6 sports fields and large green areas for outdoor activities.

Our boarding facilities are second to none with experienced housemasters and housemistresses to take care of children and create a home away from home environment.

We would also like to know about you as the owner: could you please tell us about your career and vision for the school?

My background is from both education and politics. I managed my own private school for over 20 years and served as deputy governor of Bangkok for 4 years. During my time in politics, I was in charge of education policy with 438 schools under my supervision. I was also in charge of sports, tourism and culture, foreign affairs and public relations divisions. My scope of work included overseeing 1680 low income communities around Bangkok.

My vision for the school is to create one of the top day and boarding schools in Asia. We are not only aiming to attract higher income families but we want to set up scholarship programs to provide education for underprivileged but talented students. We want to provide opportunities to all children and let them spread their wings.